Effect of caffeine on rating of perceived exertion during high intensity resistance exercise

• Main Author: Wong, Sebastian Wei Quan
• Other Authors: Thor Dianna
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66478
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the increasing popularity of strength sports, many recreational athletes have incorporate high intensity resistance exercise (HIRE) as a staple of their training programme. Caffeine, being a popular supplement and believed to improve strength performance, has been taken widely. Current literatures have suggested that caffeine ingestion improves aerobic performance. The evidence for the effect of caffeine on HIRE is equivocal and its role in reducing Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) during HIRE is not well established. Ten young healthy male adults were put through three laboratory test sessions to investigate the effect of caffeine on Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) during HIRE. Using the barbell back squat (BBS), participant’s one-repetition max (1-RM) was determined during the first session. In the subsequent sessions, participants were placed in both caffeine and placebo uniquely to each session in a randomised, double-blind, counterbalanced, within subject, cross-sectional design. Participants performed 85% 1-RM BBS for five repetitions before ingesting caffeine (6mg /kg) or placebo, and repeated 85% 1-RM BBS 30 minutes after ingestion. RPE is recorded after the final repetition of each 85% 1-RM set. Compared to placebo, there is a reduction in RPE (p = 0.003) after ingestion of caffeine. The finding suggests that caffeine does reduce RPE during HIRE through reducing fatigue and increasing concentration and body co-ordination. Further studies can be explored by using other heavy barbell compound movements, having different population studies, or investigate if increase in submaximal load performance improves 1-RM.